Desalinization device and method for producing desalinized object

ABSTRACT

A desalinization device includes a separating unit that is configured to separate an object including moisture into the moisture and a substance other than the moisture, a desalinizing unit that is configured to generate desalinized water obtained by removing salinity from the moisture separated by the separating unit, and a mixing unit that is configured to generate a desalinized object, by mixing the substance separated by the separating unit with the desalinized water generated by the desalinizing unit.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the United States national phase of InternationalApplication No. PCT/JP2017/003198 filed Jan. 30, 2017, and claimspriority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-160585 filed Aug. 18,2016, the disclosure of each of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a desalinization device, and a methodfor producing a desalinized object.

BACKGROUND

Salt (sodium chloride) is used for seasoning or processing of food anddrink. Sodium and potassium which are configuration ingredients of thesalt are basic nutrients of the human body.

However, there is a case where excess ingestion of sodium becomes acause of health problems of a heart disease and a vascular disease, suchas high blood pressure. It is preferable that an aged person who isparticularly likely to contract the disease described above reduces aningestion amount of sodium.

Here, in order to reduce the ingestion amount of sodium, there is a needto ingest food and drink of which a used amount of the salt is reducedin the seasoning or the processing for a target person to ingest thefood and drink.

On the other hand, in a case where an amount of the salt which isincluded in the food and drink is reduced, a taste of the food and drinkmay be spoiled. Here, for example, the taste of the food and drink is adelicious taste or a flavor.

In recent years, in order to reduce the ingestion amount of sodiumwithout spoiling the delicious taste or the flavor of food or drink, amethod for using a substance (referred to as a salt replacementsubstance, hereinafter) which is different from the salt, and has a salttaste (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patient Application, FirstPublication No. 2002-345430), a method for using a substance (referredto as a salt taste strengthening substance, hereinafter) whichstrengthens the salt taste when the substance coexists with the salt(for example, Japanese Unexamined Patient Application, First PublicationNo. 2011-62172), and the like are known.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

However, in the technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined PatentApplication, First Publication No. 2002-345430 and Japanese UnexaminedPatent Application, First Publication No. 2011-62172, a target person,to ingest food and drink for which that technology is used, demandsingestion of additives such as a food replacement substance inreplacement of the salt and the salt taste strengthening substance.Here, there is a case where it is considered not to be preferable thatthe target person ingests the additive.

The present invention is made in view of the problems described above,and an object thereof is to provide a mechanism for generating adesalinized object obtained by removing salinity from an object.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided adesalinization device including a separating unit that is configured toseparate an object including moisture into the moisture and a substanceother than the moisture, a desalinizing unit that is configured togenerate desalinized water obtained by removing salinity from themoisture separated by the separating unit, and a mixing unit that isconfigured to generate a desalinized object, by mixing the substanceseparated by the separating unit with the desalinized water generated bythe desalinizing unit.

In the desalinization device according to the aspect of the presentinvention, the desalinizing unit is configured to generate thedesalinized water, by removing at least sodium from the moisture.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method for producing a desalinized object including a separating stepof separating an object including moisture into the moisture and asubstance other than the moisture, a desalinizing step of generatingdesalinized water obtained by removing salinity from the moistureseparated in the separating step, and a mixing step of generating thedesalinized object, by mixing the substance separated in the separatingstep with the desalinized water generated in the desalinizing step.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide amechanism for generating a desalinized object obtained by removingsalinity from an object.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a desalinization deviceaccording to a present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of thedesalinization device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of operation of thedesalinization device according to the present embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be describedwith reference to drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a desalinization device 1according to the present embodiment.

The desalinization device 1 performs desalinization processing forremoving salinity DS included in an object P. The object P is asubstance from which a portion or all of the salinity DS is removed bythe desalinization device 1, and is the substance including moisture M.For example, the object P is food or drink such as miso, soy sauce,consommé. Chinese soup, soup stock, sauce, noodle soup, various Japanesedipping sauces, seasonings, or soups. The salinity DS includes at leastsodium. Specifically, the salinity DS is salt including sodium andpotassium.

The desalinization device 1 performs the desalinization processing withrespect to the object P, and generates a desalinized object DSP. Thedesalinized object DSP is a substance obtained by removing a portion orall of the salinity DS that is included in the object P, from the objectP.

Hereinafter, a configuration of the desalinization device 1 will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of thedesalinization device 1 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the desalinization device 1 includes a separatingunit 110, a desalinizing unit 120, and a mixing unit 130.

The separating unit 110 separates the object P into the moisture M whichis included in the object P, and a substance S other than the moistureM. For example, the separating unit 110 is a centrifugal separator, acentrifugal dehydrator, or the like. The separating unit 110 separatesthe object P into the moisture M and the substance S, supplies themoisture M to the desalinizing unit 120, and supplies the substance S tothe mixing unit 130.

The moisture M is supplied to the desalinizing unit 120 from theseparating unit 110. The desalinizing unit 120 removes the salinity DSwhich is included in the moisture M, from the moisture M. For example,the desalinizing unit 120 is an electrodialysis device including an ionexchange membrane. Specifically, the desalinizing unit 120 removessodium from the moisture M. The desalinizing unit 120 generatesdesalinized water DSW obtained by removing the salinity DS from themoisture M. The desalinizing unit 120 supplies the desalinized water DSWwhich is generated to the mixing unit 130.

In the above description, a case where the desalinizing unit 120 removessodium from the moisture M is described, but the present invention isnot limited thereto. The desalinizing unit 120 may remove sodium andpotassium from the moisture M.

The substance S is supplied to the mixing unit 130 from the separatingunit 110. Moreover, the desalinized water DSW is supplied to the mixingunit 130 from the desalinizing unit 120. The mixing unit 130 mixes thesupplied substance S with the desalinized water DSW. For example, themixing unit 130 is a stirring tank. The mixing unit 130 mixes thesubstance S with the desalinized water DSW, and generates thedesalinized object DSP.

Hereinafter, operation of the desalinization device 1 will be describedwith reference to FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of thedesalinization device 1 according to the present invention.

The separating unit 110 separates the object P into the moisture M whichis included in the object P and the substance S other than the moistureM (step S110). The desalinizing unit 120 removes the salinity DS fromthe moisture M which is separated by the separating unit 110, andgenerates the desalinized water DSW (step S120). The mixing unit 130mixes the substance S which is separated by the desalinizing unit 120,with the desalinized water DSW which is generated by the mixing unit130, and generates the desalinized object DSP (step S130).

As described above, the desalinization device 1 according to the presentembodiment generates the desalinized object DSP, by separating theobject P into the moisture M and the substance S, and mixing thedesalinized water DSW obtained by removing the salinity DS from themoisture M, with the substance S. Thereby, the desalinization device 1according to the present embodiment generates the desalinized object DSPobtained by removing the salinity DS from the object P.

The desalinization device 1 according to the present embodiment removesthe salinity DS only from the moisture M which is included in the objectP. That is, the desalinization device 1 according to the presentembodiment does not perform ingredient removal processing such as thedesalinization processing onto the substance S which is obtained byremoving the moisture M from the object P.

Here, if an ingredient such as the salinity DS is removed from object P,even a delicious taste or a flavor may be spoiled. In the desalinizationdevice 1 according to the present embodiment, the ingredient removalprocessing is not performed onto the substance S in the object P, andthe desalinization processing is performed with respect to the moistureM, thereby, it is possible to generate the desalinized object DSPwithout spoiling the flavor such as the delicious taste which the objectP originally has. According to the desalinization device 1 of thepresent embodiment, it is possible to generate the desalinized objectDSP obtained by removing the salinity DS from the object P, withoutusing an additive.

For example, in a case where the salinity which is used at the time ofgenerating a seasoning is reduced, an ingredient (amino acid mineralelement) that becomes the delicious taste or the flavor which isgenerated in accordance with the use of the salinity is also reduced inthe seasoning. Therefore, there is a case where in the seasoning, thedelicious taste or the flavor is spoiled in comparison with a seasoningin which the salinity is not reduced, and the seasoning is less likelyto be used in a cooking process. Specifically, the seasoning may becomea flat taste without depth. There is a need to ingest a dish, which iscooked using the seasoning, which is less likely to be felt with thedelicious taste or the flavor for an ingesting person who is necessaryto ingest a dish of which the salt is reduced by receiving a treatmentlimiting the salinity.

In the object P of the desalinization device 1 according to the presentembodiment, the salinity DS which is the same as that which is used ingeneral is used at a step of generating the object P. Therefore, at thestep of generating the object P, the delicious taste or the flavor isnot reduced in the object P. In the desalinization device 1 according tothe present embodiment, the salinity DS which is the same as that whichis used in general is used, and only sodium or potassium is removedamong the ingredients that are included in the object P of which thedelicious taste or the flavor is not reduced. Thereby, thedesalinization device 1 according to the present embodiment is capableof generating the desalinized object DSP of which the ingredient thatbecomes the delicious taste or the flavor is not spoiled. Accordingly,the ingesting person can ingest a dish, namely, a dish for which thedesalinized object DSP obtained by removing the salinity DS, by thedesalinization device 1 according to the present embodiment is used,which is capable of being felt with the delicious taste or the flavorwhich is equivalent to that of the seasoning which is generated withoutreducing the salinity.

The desalinization device 1 may be configured to further include amoisture adjusting unit that performs adjustment of the moistureincluded in the desalinized object DSP which is generated by the mixingunit 130, in replacement of the configuration in which the respectiveunits described above are included.

Here, there is a case where the amount of the desalinized water DSW issmall between the amount of the moisture M which is included in theobject P and the amount of the desalinized water DSW obtained byremoving the salinity DS from the moisture M in the desalinizing unit120. Accordingly, there is a case where the moisture included in thedesalinized object DSP obtained by mixing the desalinized water DSW withthe substance S, is smaller than the moisture included in the object P.In a case where the amount of the moisture which is included in theobject P is different from the amount of the moisture which is includedin the desalinized object DSP, texture or feeling may vary between theobject P and the desalinized object DSP.

The moisture adjusting unit adjusts the moisture which is included inthe desalinized object DSP, based on the moisture M which is included inthe object P. Specifically, the moisture adjusting unit adjusts themoisture which is included in the desalinized object DSP, by adding themoisture to the desalinized object DSP, based on the amount of themoisture M that is included in the object P. The moisture adjusting unitmay adjust the moisture which is included in the desalinized object DSP,based on a proportion of the moisture M which is included in the objectP, in replacement of the configuration in which the amount of themoisture that is included in the desalinized object DSP is adjusted,based on the amount of the moisture M that is included in the object P.

Thereby, the desalinization device 1 according to the present embodimentis capable of generating the desalinized object DSP including themoisture of which the amount is approximately the same as that of theobject P. That is, the desalinization device 1 according to the presentembodiment is capable of generating the desalinized object DSP havingthe texture or the feeling that is approximately the same as that of theobject P.

The desalinization device 1 may be configured to further include adetecting unit that detects bacteria existing in the desalinized objectDSP, in replacement of the configuration in which the respective unitsdescribed above are included.

A manufacturer who manufactures the desalinized object DSP by using thedesalinization device 1 according to the present embodiment candetermine whether or not the desalinized object DSP is provided to aconsumer of the desalinized object DSP, based on a detection result ofthe detecting unit. For example, in a case where the detection result ofthe detecting unit indicates that the bacteria existing in thedesalinized object DSP exist more than a predetermined threshold value,food poisoning bacteria may exist in the desalinized object DSP. In thiscase, the manufacturer who manufactures the desalinized object DSP byusing the desalinization device 1 according to the present embodimentcan determine whether or not the desalinized object DSP is provided tothe consumer, based on the detection result of the detecting unit, andcan prevent spread of the food poisoning in advance.

In the above description, a case where the manufacturer who manufacturesthe desalinized object DSP by using the desalinization device 1determines whether or not the desalinized object DSP is provided to theconsumer based on the detection result of the detecting unit isdescribed, but it is not limited thereto. The desalinization device 1according to the present embodiment may be configured to further includea determining unit that determines whether or not the desalinized objectDSP is provided to the consumer, based on the result of the detectingunit.

The determining unit may determine whether or not the desalinized objectDSP is provided to the consumer, based on the detection result of thedetecting unit. In this case, in the desalinization device 1 accordingto the present embodiment, the desalinized object DSP is provided to theconsumer, in a case where a determination result of the determining unitindicates that the desalinized object DSP is provided to the consumer.

The desalinization device 1 may be configured to further include a heatsterilization processing unit that heats the desalinized object DSP, andto perform sterilization processing, in replacement of the configurationin which the respective units described above are included.

The heat sterilization processing unit performs the heat sterilizationprocessing for heating the desalinized object DSP, and for sterilizingthe bacteria existing in the desalinized object DSP.

According to the desalinization device 1 of the present embodiment, itis possible to prevent propagation of the bacteria existing in thedesalinized object DSP.

The desalinization device 1 according to the present embodiment may beconfigured to further include a packing unit that packs the desalinizedobject DSP, in replacement of the configuration in which the respectiveunits described above are included.

The respective units which are included in the desalinization device 1according to the present embodiment may be configured to be integrated,may be configured to be separate from each other, or may be configuredsuch that a portion of the respective units has a separateconfiguration.

Thereupon, the embodiments of the present invention are described indetail with reference to the drawings, but a specific configuration isnot limited to the embodiments, and it is possible to appropriatelymodify the configuration in the scope without departing from the gist ofthe present invention. The configurations which are described in theembodiments described above may be combined with each other.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

-   1: desalinization device-   110: separating unit-   120: desalinizing unit-   130: mixing unit-   DS: salinity-   DSP: desalinized object-   DSW: desalinized water-   M: moisture-   P: object-   S: substance

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for producing desalinized food,comprising: separating food including moisture into moisture and asubstance other than the moisture; generating desalinized water obtainedby removing salinity from the moisture separated from the substanceother than the moisture; generating the desalinized food, by mixing thesubstance other than the moisture with the desalinized water; and addingmoisture to the desalinized food.